FROM WAR TO PEACE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 77, 26 December 1918, Page 5

FROM WAR TO PEACE

WINDING UP A GREAT DEPARTMENT! SPEECH BY THE MINISTEI OF MUNITIONS . I By Telegraph-Prcsa Association- Copyrilh (Rec. December 25, 5.5 p.m.) j London, December 23. | Mr. Winston Churchill (Minister 0 Munitions), addressing a conference o the Trade Union Advisory Committe and the employers, said that when th! tiring ceased on the West front six week! ago tiio Ministry of Munitions was a! the top of its form and had reachel the culminating point of its output They had a. vast scries of terrifyinj novelties in readiness for the 1919 oani paign, and suddenly the task was swal lowed up in the victory. Tho Munitioii Department's effort, lie added, culmiii ated in the discharge, over fifteen sue cessive days on the West front, of twelvj thousand tons of shells dailv upon th reeling, quivering German front. Th! average shell-production for October wa -17,000 tons per iveek. j Tho Ministry was now gradually n 'taxing its control and stimulating altei nativo production to avoid puttini masses of workers out of employmenj Its task was threefold — liquidation' o contracts, assisting firms to convert wa! into peace industry, and disposing of th material stores in the war which were worth one thousand million sterling. The Ministry was' now r< ducing its headquarters personnel an relinquishing the commandeered hotelt It was estimated that by the end of nex week 230,000 workers would havo -let tho Munition? Department. Alread ,20,000 were out. The inspection staff <i between forty and fifty thousand wome ! were released within a few days of th armistice. The majority of tho iostri< tions on materials have been swept awai to enable the diversion of industry t peace purposes. The Government dui ing the war had used practically all th available steel, and therefore dislocatio of the engineering shops would bo iij ovitable for some months. There wq no reason to apprehend any shock o 'set-back for the steel industry. Th British steel works were already full occupied. The fixing of home pricej coupled with the gradual removal of th subsidies, had steadied the iron and ste6 trades. Large Government stocks <i non-ferrous metals would be placed oj .the market at fixed prices, which polio was calculated to encourage the tras The Ministry was doing its utmost t

develop alternative industrial produij tinn during the transitional period. Al effort was 'being made to obtain order from the Government Departments ani also the Dominions. He urged ever; man to find a peace job. "I!," he con eluded, "nil pull together trith the earn' loyally as during the recent period o great anxiety the great industries wil soon resume their natural activity."-, Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. i